Slave Labor and Future Reparations

The financial services company Wachovia has recently announced via their website, press releases, and other means of communication that companies that Wachovia has acquired have had direct connections to slavery.

There is a Chicago ordinance that requires companies doing business with the city to disclose any historical ties to slavery which has led to many slave-related disclosures..

The Chicago ordinance is based after a piece of California legislation passed into law.

With the list of commercial companies growing monthly with ties to slavery, it is becoming more clearer of the significant venture capital contributed to the foundation, growth, and sustained momentum of existence of the United States of America taken by force from slaves.

The very unique service Google Print that is now available makes it more possible to determine which industries have had obtained the benefit of slave labor without any having to produce any returns on human capital.

I have been consistently doing research on my family and the history found within South Carolina. I recently found out that the slaves imported into South Carolina were extremely valuable and specifically requested due to their ability to plant and harvest rice.

The value of the slaves was far higher than previously imagined. Amelia Wallace Vernon is the author of the book entitled African Americans at Mars Bluff, South Carolina that I am referencing and she is a family member of the family that had a great impact on the college that I graduated from as well as where I met my wife Wyteria.

The irony of all this is the fundamental growing support and legitimacy that these discoveries have for the cause of granting reparations to African-Americans within the United States.

The discussion of what happens after the moral obligation to grant and distribute reparations is a blog entry and discussion reserved for another day.

But it can no longer be denied that the industry of slavery and the forceful destruction of African families have directly led to the success of America.

Many times I have considered the meeting of one's spouse as providing the reason to be grateful to and for the family that provided the foundations for Francis Marion University. Now after reading the history that I was never taught within public education, it seems that they were only repaying a greater debt with a partial payment.

I am still grateful for the partial payment and will be when the debt is repayed in full (although I will not sit and wait and hold my breath for the recognition or the repayment itself).